


Borrowed Beds

by LizRambler



Series: Sleepovers [13]
Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Friendship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-14
Updated: 2020-04-25
Packaged: 2021-03-01 19:54:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 14,097
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23642662
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LizRambler/pseuds/LizRambler
Summary: A soul finds a new home. This is Tentoo/Rose with their friendship with Donna.
Relationships: Metacrisis Tenth Doctor & Donna Noble, Metacrisis Tenth Doctor/Rose Tyler
Series: Sleepovers [13]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1531835
Comments: 46
Kudos: 70





	1. Chapter 1

“So the Doctor’s new translator is a bit glitchy and that’s why Agent Gardner ended up married to the Silurian Ambassador,” Kate Stewart remarked, “R&D is working with him to fix the glitches which he chocked up to a charming problem with idioms. Since he isn’t here today to explain himself, I’m guessing it's the usual with colloquialisms from our ‘charmingly primitive’ speech not translating properly through his advanced translator program.”

Rose snorted. Kate had the Doctor’s condescending tone down pat. She made a note to repeat Kate’s report verbatim to him when she got home. Eyes were on her. Rose glanced up from the research she had not so surreptitiously been doing during the ‘boring bits’ as the Doctor referred to well, all the parts. “Mm?”

“The first contact report?” Pete asked, arching his brows.

“Oh, right! Usual. Jake and I made first contact in New Orleans of all places. They were tourists. We helped them learn a few of the local customs. Provided the Earth American English update to their translators along with a Creole dialect just in case. Encouraged them to blend in,” Rose remarked, leaving out the part where she, the Doctor and hell, the whole team decided to get sloshed at an open-air court while listening to jazz then go on a Vampire tour. The Doctor had accidentally eaten a ginger laced candy she definitely had not handed him and they’d been off on a drunken vampire hunt that was mostly successful. “While keeping the alien tourists out of trouble, we ran across a nest of plasmavores. Contained them at an old Touchwood 13 safehouse until backup arrived. It’s all in the report.” No, it wasn’t. Rose smiled brilliantly.

Pete snorted.

“And um, correct me if I’m wrong, but Bennie and Lalen hit it off,” she said, scratching at her temples. “Lalen is thinking of moving to the surface and Bennie invited me to the hen do so… not so glitchy, really.” She gave Kate a tight grin, showing teeth. Kate rolled her eyes.

Rose’s phone pinged. She’d set up alerts for ten topics well before the dimension cannon for certain names and places related to the Doctor. These days it was usually just a link to the latest column by Sarah Jane Smith who was a gossip columnist here with a great following and a cheeky writing style the Doctor enjoyed to no end. She silenced it and turned to the room.

Pete opened his notes. “President Jones is pleased with expenditures this month.”

“Because cost has been largely shunted to the UN,” Jake whispered in her ear. Rose suppressed a laugh. Her dad went on about numbers, projected numbers, numbers within numbers and then gave a stern lecture about losing equipment. Guns kept vanishing, only to reappear with new stunner settings. Jake and Rose exchanged knowing glances. They were being very slowly converted to a less violent organization. Rose herself had championed a program to create force shield prisons to lessen the use of explosives. 

The meeting broke around them. Jack handed her a file folder for the Doctor and waved as he left with a hot new Welsh fellow. Rose tilted her head, wondering if he’d hit on him yet. Packing her bag, she was so ready to go home and check in with the Doctor. Another migraine day had him pale and shaky this morning, sipping herbal tea and looking longingly at his stack of stolen alien tech.

“Rose, a word,” Pete called.

Rose followed her father out. They entered the lift together. He handed her a few file folders. “Top two are for you. Bottom two are for the Doctor. The yields are in from his test food batches. Osgood wants him to come to the taste testing next week.”

“Bet mine are full of bag and tags,” Rose said, flipping open a file. Pete smirked. “I better get to inventing if I want to be at all the best parties.”

“It’s a lentil.”

“Never mind that then,” Rose deadpanned to her father’s amusement.

“Dinner Sunday. No arguments.” Pete said, exiting the lift and walking to the doors to the street. Rose closed her file, rushing to keep up. “Your mother insists. Tony says you owe him a sleepover.”

“I do,” Rose agreed, “I’ll convince himself that it’s important. At least he and Jackie are getting on better after their vacation together. He might even be chipper about it.”

“When pigs fly…” Pete trailed off. 

The streets were packed, not that that was strange for London in the middle of rush hour. Rose’s spidey senses tingled. The groups were bunched in a semi-circle as if… “It’s an accident, Pete.” 

Rose pushed through the crowd. All UNIT personnel had trauma training. Pete was on her heels, asking people to move back. In the center of the left lane, a woman was lying still. Cars had stopped, creating a barrier around her. Several people were on their phones dialing for emergency services. Two men were kneeling by the woman. “What happened?”

“She collapsed, miss. I didn’t hit her, I swear! There’s not a mark on her!” The thin young man with his dark scared eyes reached out. Rose grabbed his hand, giving it a squeeze.  
“What’s your name?” Rose couldn’t see the woman, her long ginger hair had covered her face. She didn’t have a mark on her from what she could see. She had a thready pulse. Puffs of air escaped her, moving the hair.

“Leo Hampton, miss,” he replied, “Is she?”

“She’s breathing, Leo. Not dead. She must have fainted?” Rose didn’t want to risk touching or moving her too much. She reached out and brushed the hair away from the woman’s face so it wouldn’t obstruct her breathing. “Oh…”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Donna leaned back against his headboard. “Yeah, I’m dead, have to be. I’ve no body. Rose said I touched your hand in a jar and wham! The other Doctors in here are pretty convinced that would have killed me. Don’t spare my feelings… I can handle it. How did I die? Was it heroic?”

Meditation had always come easily to the Doctor. Since the instantaneous bio meta crisis, the ability had slipped away. When the migraines started, he had wondered if it would help, and then Jackie of all people had handed him a book on it. While he waited for the pills to lessen his migraine to a manageable level, he began meditating in a human-ish way. It wasn’t as good but each attempt had let him go deeper. Like his time sense, he had just needed to work a little harder to make the human parts interact with the Time Lord parts. And then he had finally gotten into a true trance-like state last week. Opening his eyes, Donna had been staring at him,

He’d fallen off the bed with a shout. She’d vanished when his concentration broke. He knew Rose had said she was in his mind, complete and whole but he hadn’t seen any signs of her. Like his older personalities, she was just in there...part and parcel of the new him. Not… interactive.

After a rough day at work, Rose had headed off to the shower and he’d managed to get back into his trance. Again Donna appeared, pointing at herself and waving. Prepared for her, he managed not to fall off the bed. Donna and he had grinned at each other like idiots. Her mouth was moving. “Get me out of here Martian.”

“I can’t figure out why there’s no sound,” he’d told Rose as they walked to work. “She’s vivid. She’s so real she could slap me.”

“Would she slap you though?” Rose asked, eating an apple. He was holding her briefcase so she could hold his hand with her now free one. 

“Depends on what I’d just said to her, I suppose. I’m telling you, I rarely interact with the other personalities in me. It’d just get messy.” The Doctor let Rose’s hand go to flash their badges at the door. They slipped inside.

“Plus, you’d look bonkers,” Rose added. “Maybe light some candles next time? Mum says those gurus on the telly swear by candles. Sets the mood.”

“Thought they set the mood, romantically,” he asked, and slowing to a stop to hand her her briefcase.

She grinned, teasing him with that little bit of tongue. Rolling her eyes she explained, “We use candles for all sorts of moods, romantic, spiritual, relaxations… Like in seances, that’s not sexy.”

He scratched at his sideburns, “I don’t know, depends on who you summon up. Old Cassanova might be sexy or Lady Guidiva...or Safrooon the Mighty. That guy had a helluva a reputation and wandering tentacles.” 

Rose snorted. “Well, I have a meeting, so I’ll see you and Mr. Tentacles at the seance tonight.”

That had been a fun evening.

Afterward, he had tried the candles. Donna had appeared. But she hadn’t been able to speak until today. She smirked at the candles. “Am I interrupting a romantic evening? Because I think I’ve told you, I’m not interested in Martians,” she asked.

Grinning at the sound of her familiar teasing tone, he barked out a laugh. “We share genetic material and you live inside my head.”

“Right, bit too…” she began waving her hands around.

“Gross,” the Doctor told her.

“Yeah,” she drawled. “So this is nice, love the duvet, very you. Where are we?”

“My mind, still. This is my corner of it. The bed was just the easiest thing to conjure up right now. My new body gets migraines.”

“I’m dead, so.” Donna waved it off as if to say everyone has issues. 

“You’re not dead.”

Donna leaned back against his headboard. “Yeah, I’m dead, have to be. I’ve no body. Rose said I touched your hand in a jar and wham! The other Doctors in here are pretty convinced that would have killed me. Don’t spare my feelings… I can handle it. How did I die? Was it heroic?”

“You’re not dead. You’re home with your family. Promise. You did save the Universe, all the universes. But nope, not dead. Very much alive. If I know me, and I think I do, you probably won the lottery by now and are living the good life.”

“See, now I know I’m dead because I would never leave you. Other you. Original you? Classic--?”

Huffing, the Doctor rolled his eyes. “You humans! You just want to be dead. I had Rose’s consciousness in mine for a bit and she was on about the same thing. You aren’t dead, Donna. And you specifically, aren’t dead either. You’re just bodiless at the moment.” He waved at her form. “Temporarily! I can make you a new one.”

“You can make me a new one?” She asked softly. “Well, that makes me feel a lot less dead. Am I haunting you? I’d like to haunt you. Where’s Rose?”

“Work.” He grinned at her. “I knew you were in here, rattling around with the other ones,” he said. “Strange new/old memories kept popping up at the most inopportune times. Did you really have to relive that night with Jack and the hypervodka…”

“Yes, absolutely, that was brilliant!” Donna laughed, smacking her dark jean-clad legs. “You humiliated yourself in front of Rose! I have never laughed so hard in my life. How did she never notice you were in love with her? And...And… Why would you even attempt that when she was off her head?”

“Jack dared me… And there was this pretty alien that kept asking her to dance so I had to get her attention back where it belonged and no, no, no, you don’t get to ask my questions about that night!” the Doctor yelled, glowering.

“When Rose told me I could live out any of your adventures, I was all for it. See your past. See all your companions… But the greatest hits of you acting like a moron… I am living for this. Still, good to see this version of you, Space Man. Why can’t I access your memories?” 

“I’m using them right now, thank you very much.” No way was he letting her see him when he was really falling on his face trying to impress Rose. Or Martha...Or now when Rose and he had...Nope. “S’private.”

She spotted Rose’s knickers on the floor. “I’ll bet. My brain couldn’t handle seeing you naked. What if you looked in a mirror? I’d die...again.”

“Not dead. And meditation is how you’re here. I’m getting in touch with my inner selves. I could do it quite easily before my current erm, well, regeneration.”

“Meditation? My mum sent me to a psychiatrist once who recommended it. If I knew it was this high def, I might have given it a fair shake instead of ditching yoga for the frozen yogurt bar with Hettie. This is less mystical than I’d thought. Look at me, I’m on your higher plane of existence.” 

Dressed in a green top and her brown leather jacket, Donna looked exactly the same. Well, she would, she was a memory. No, hang on, she was all the memories at once. She was literally his best friend in his head. She was taking in the room and judging him no doubt. A bubble of happiness filled his chest threatening to spill out in unmanly tears. He’d missed her.

“You are ideal.” he murmured, just like Rose had been. Donna was preserved. The other Doctor had had to remove her memories and sent her home. He didn’t have to do that. He had Rose. He had a baby Tardis. He would eventually have a Donna. He ran a hand over his face, giddy. His head still hurt but his heart was full.

She blushed. “Shut up.”

“No, look at you! All we need is the Tardis and we can go anywhere.”

“Where I am is going, bonkers,” Donna said, “Your head is mental. It’s like a fun park where I’ve had too many iced coffees and for whatever reason, I keep getting on the rides, if you get my drift.”

“Are you saying being in my head makes you want to vomit? Because I am offended.” The Doctor huffed as the Back to the Future Theme trickled into his awareness. “Honestly, you preserve someone’s memories ensuring their continued existence and this is the thanks I get?”

“Answer it. It’s Rose,” Donna told him.

“How do you-? Never mind. Too weird.” The Doctor answered the phone in real life. In the shared illusion he was in, a gold spotlight surrounded him. “Hallo?’

“You gotta get to St. Thomas Hospital,” Rose said without preamble. He could see her in a porthole in the illusion. She was in Pete’s car. “You’re not going to believe what’s happened.”

“Rose, are you alright? Your mother?”

“Family’s fine. I’ve got to go, they’re bringing her in.” The call disconnected. The spotlight and Rose faded away. 

“That was...new.” The Doctor started to withdraw from his meditative state. Donna reached out and grabbed his wrist. Her warm fingers gripped. “I’ll come back… I’ve just got to go see what that was all about.”

“Can you, stay sort of zoned out and take me with you?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, the first draft was too serious and now it is longer and sillier, enjoy.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They get to the hospital...

“You’re always with me.”

Donna Noble, the savior of the known multiverse, leaned over and pinched him, hard. “I want to see something that isn’t inside your head!” 

Sourly the Doctor growled, “Right, you won’t be distracting at all.”

“You can do it. What good are Time Lord brains if you can’t lord it over us poor humans. Or can’t you anymore because now you’re one of us lowly mortals? Ohhh, you can’t, can you? You’re not so superior anymore, shame,” Donna breathed with a hint of pity.

A hot annoyance filtered into his little mind palace. “I haven’t lost one joy of my Time Lord abilities. I’m still me.”

“Oh,” Donna drawled, “Then you can take me with you…Child’s play for you, Time Lord.”

Caught by his own self-confidence. Damn it. “Fine. Yes. I can. I will. Let me just adjust my mental…” The Doctor grounded himself in his bones and flesh, limbs tingling as he kept his awareness loosely connected. He could feel Donna’s mental presence alongside Rose’s. Her mental signature was mauve beside Rose’s comforting gold. He shrugged his shoulders, settling all the presences into place. 

Opening his eyes, he sat up straight before sliding off the bed and to his feet. He felt her but he couldn’t see her. “Donna?”

“In here!” she called.

The Doctor followed her to the spare bathroom where the Tardis Coral was sparkling. “What are you doing in here? We’ve got to go.”

“I don’t know!” Donna exclaimed.

He reached for her hand. His hand passed through her fingers. He rolled his eyes at himself. Being less connected made him feel funny, silly, out of sorts. Donna frowned, waving her hand to see it glitter and flicker when she moved too fast. “Sorry, I can’t make you solid. Not even sure you can see things without using my eyes for input.”

“I’m seeing from my point of view,” Donna offered.

“S’weird. Can we go now? Rose sounded urgent.”

“Yeah, yes, right, let’s go. Just don’t talk to me on the way. They’ll think you’re barmy.” Donna hissed. “Oh, I like your decor. Did Rose pick out those sofas? Had to, you’re useless. Everything would be pinstripes...am I right? Or am I right? Yeah, I am. ‘Course I am.”

He glared at her as he pulled on his converse.

“What?”

“She’s in a room. I’ve told them we’re her cousins,” Pete said walking up to grab Rose’s arm. “I’m not sure what all of this is about. Who is this woman?”

“She might be the solution to a problem…if she’s… If she erm, did she regain consciousness?” Rose asked as guilt tugged at her. This woman was her own person. What Rose was thinking was terrible and perfect. But only if the Doctor got here soonish to confirm.

“No, they don’t think she will, Rose...she’s dead. She’s still breathing but there’s no brain activity… I think that young man lied about hitting her.” Pete let go of her to peer into the room. “She looks familiar. Rose who is she?”

“Go call Mum, and tell her I might need her to run interference,” Rose told him. “I’ll explain everything once the Doctor gets here. I’m going to keep her company for a bit.”

Pete raised his eyebrows. “They’re going to come for her organs.”

“Not until they know her family’s been notified.” Rose waved her father off as she stepped into the room. They had her hooked up to several machines. The readouts were standard. Her body was fine. Pete might be right. Maybe the kid had tapped her. Fesh bruising was appearing along her neck. Soft even breaths escaped her. She appeared to be sleeping peacefully. She wasn’t. There were no peaks and valleys on the EEG. She was effectively braindead. Rose bit her lip. She’d called the Doctor because of who the woman was. Now she was thinking about who the woman could be. Hopefully, her brain wasn’t beyond repair.

“M’sorry,” she whispered to the woman. “I think your soul sort of left? If you believe in that sort of thing… I might. My ah, my Doctor might be able to help you. He’s brilliant. And he can knit. Sexy, right? I have got the nicest mittens from him. That’s not...sorry.” She flipped open her phone hoping the Doctor had texted and she spotted the alert again. Flipping it open, she read it in surprise. “Looks like you’re exactly who I thought you were. You’re not supposed to exist here. I spent months looking for you. Your records are missing. Your brother has never mentioned you. How did you hide from Torchwood’s algorithms?”

Rose sat down to wait. She reached out and held the woman’s hand. There was no return pressure. The hand felt like a doll’s. Even if this was a monumentally stupid idea, at least the woman wouldn’t be alone.

Twenty minutes later, the Doctor exploded into the room with wild hair and a strange slack expression on his face. His pupils were blown wide. “Sh, stop, stop, stop,” he pleaded, holding his hands up to thin air. “I know, I...yes, I...see that. Rose! You’re okay!” He pulled her into a tight hug. “I know you said you were fine but I wasn’t sure you wouldn’t tell me you were fine to get me here calmly. You smell fantastic. The antiseptic in here isn’t so great.” He sniffed her.

“Are you high?”

“No,” he said assing literally hundreds of ‘o’s to the end of his sentence.

Rose’s eyebrows disappeared into her fringe. His eyes locked onto hers, his skin flushing. “Tell me you didn’t drive like this?”

He blinked, pulling away from her, nonplussed. “Did I?” he asked the air and insanely waited for an answer. “No, yes, right, we ah, we took the tube. We did? I don’t remember that at all.” He paused. “I do remember the red hat...right. Rose!” He dove back into her arms, hugging her. “Alright?”

“I’m better than you. What’s happening here?” She waved a hand in front of him. He had a delayed reaction to it, becoming annoyed seconds later than he should have.

“Erm, experiment. Testing it out. I need to… YES,” he shouted at a space behind him, an empty space. Rose shushed him. “Sorry, sorry, sorry. I need to... I won’t,” he finished looking again at the empty space.

Rose grabbed for his hands, feeling the link between them flare-up. It felt strange and disconnected. Plus there was a second presence lurking in there. “What did you do? Why do you feel weird?”

He blinked a few times, eyes focusing on the bed, “Rassilon’s Purple Polka Dot Pajamas! That’s Donna!” His pupils contracted almost to normal. “What’s happened to her? You said there wasn’t a Donna in this world. Just a Donald...no Donna. This is definitely a Donna. Unless she started as a Donald and decided to become a Donna? No?” His sonic appeared. He ran a scan. Blinked. Ran a second scan. He sat heavily on the edge of the bed, animation leaving him. “She’s…oh,” he said softly, “she’s dead.” 

“Her body seems fine.” Rose waved at the mostly pristine form.

“What happened to her?” the Doctor asked tears in his eyes.

“Collapsed in the street. Maybe she hit her head? M’not sure.” Rose reached out and touched Donna’s hair, sweeping it out of her eyes. “Pete and I spotted her on the ground and had her brought here. Doctor, they won’t keep her on these machines for long. They don’t do that here.”

“And why would they? She’s meat…” the Doctor muttered. “Better to carve her up and save lives then letting her sit around being a vegetable… Maybe.” He reached out to touch her temples. “Tell me I can,” he asked the air. “Well, I need permission and she can’t give it.”

Rose grabbed his hands. “Is it safe? If there’s no one in there, no consciousness what does that do to you?”

He shrugged a shoulder. “No idea. Should be like entering an empty room. But if there are any sparks of this Donna in there I might be able to save her. I have to--stop yelling at me.”

“I’m not,” Rose said as her brain caught up. “Donna?” She waved at the empty space. You’re sharing your waking consciousness with her? Is that safe!?”

The Doctor gently tugged his hands free. “It’s not not safe?” He glanced at the empty space. Rose imagined Donna standing there and she saw a faint outline. “Okay, great, molto bene,” the Doctor muttered, placing his hands against Pete’s World Donna’s temples. “Geronimo.”

A wave of terror exploded behind Rose’s eyes. She whirled in darkness. Stumbling she knocked into the bed, slipping to the floor in a faint.

“Doctor, Rose!” Donna shouted.

“Bit busy,” he bit out, struggling in the yawning empty expanse of this Donna’s mind. The memories were there spiraling around on loose sheets of paper. Hints of relationships blasted past him, leftover emotions were clinging to the corners like cobwebs. He called out into the empty space. No one called back. Not a lick of consciousness was left. If there’d been even a flicker he would have been able to save it, nurture it, maybe heal her. There was nothing. This Donna was a shell. Grief choked him. “I’m sorry…”

“Now SpaceMan, Rose collapsed!”

“What?!?” He let go of the body of Pete’s World Donna. He spun to see Rose on the floor. “Rose!” His body felt chaotic, super fast and slow and unresponsive. He was split into two many consciousnesses. He cut the link to Donna. She faded out with a cry. Slipping to the floor, he cradled Rose. Her eyes fluttered open. “Alright?”

“What happened?” Rose said blinking in the harsh hospital lights.

“Erm, if I had to hazard a guess, my experiment pulled our minds into too many places at once. You’re connected to me and I was connected to Donna which meant you were connected to Donna and the poor body in the bed. It’s like too many fairy lights plugged into the same outlet.” He brushed her lovely soft blonde hair out of her face. “You blew a fuse.”

“Have I got brain damage because that sort of made sense,” Rose remarked pushing off of him to get to her feet. “Is she brain dead?”

“Yes.” He stood up to regard the woman in the bed with her familiar features smoothed out in sleep, well, not sleep, death. His heart ached for all her wasted potential. A world without Donna was scarcely worth thinking about. Of course, out loud his incredibly still rude and not ginger mouth said, “What a waste of a perfectly good Donna!” 

Rose didn’t rebuke him for rudeness. The Doctor caught her gaze, squinting. Her lovely pink skin had paled to powder and her eyes were a bit golden but she was standing and otherwise fine. Why then wasn’t she… correcting him? Rose’s eyes unfocused. She bit her lip thoughtfully. He let out a breath unsure what to do now. The Doctor reached out to hold Pete’s World Donna’s hand. The familiar weight, heat, and feel of her hand sent a pang of longing through him which reminded him. “Oh shit! I cut the link with Donna so harshly too. I am going to owe her all my memories of spa days after this.”

“Or…” Rose said, eyes glittering with a hint of mania. Maybe she wasn’t alright?

“Or my memories of all the best coffees I’ve ever drunk…” he offered, wondering if Rose would let him scan her. She was practically glowing with fever.

“Or,” Rose insisted, a dark smile gracing her normally angelic countenance. “No, it’s mad.”

“What?” He wasn’t getting it. Did she want to give Donna his memories of every petting zoo he’d ever been in? There were some good ones in the Alpha Beta System. Rose made a face. “What?”

“Doctor,” Rose began, “how’s this body otherwise,” Rose asked, indicating his sonic. “I know she’s… but is it…” She made a motion of cutting her own throat. 

He blanched. Taking the hint, he buzzed the body in the bed. Checking the readings, he made his own face. “This...well, she’s got a concussion. There are a few subdermal hematomas. Bit of bone bruising. She was definitely hit by that car…”

Rose hummed. “Would she recover?”

He blinked. “No, her...her is gone. Without a consciousness, she’ll never recover.”

“But with one, would she? How bad is the damage?” Rose popped a finger into her mouth, chewing on the nail which was a bad habit she only had around him when she was being devious. His eyes narrowed. What was she getting at--?

“Perfect, no heart disease, no illnesses, normal wear and tear for a human body her age. The knees are a bit...maybe she was a runner?” He scratched at his head, continuing his evaluation in the hopes of landing on what Rose was getting at. “She’s a nonsmoker, her body would be perfect for donation---Oh!”

“Now he gets it,” Rose said, looking to the heavens in askance. “Honestly, you’re so thick sometimes for a genius.”

“Oi!” He protested as the idea sank in he bit his own lip in contemplation. “We can’t? Can we?” He turned to look at the empty shell just ripe for a new consciousness. It would be like swapping to a new driver in a used car. Erm, he would not be saying that last bit out loud. There was rude and there was insensitive to the point of censure. Could he do that? He was a bit human. Would that be an issue? Nah… he was still telepathic. He was still the Doctor. He tilted his head this way and that, searching the body for problems.

“Can you put her in there?” Rose pointed to Pete’s World Donna’s head. “S’like organ donation. She is a Donna. Perfect genetic match if we needed a kidney or a liver or I don’t know, a body for a complete consciousness. Does it work that way? Can you save the body by adding Donna’s mind?” Rose’s mania was adorable. It was still mania and was that his fault? Had he encouraged her into this different morality thing when she was too young to slap him for it? Nah, she was never too young to slap him for it… 

He scratched at the side of his face. “I don’t know if that’s the right thing to do. This Donna has a family, surely.” It wasn’t a strong protest. The Doctor’s Time Lord mind agreeing with Rose. This body was just a meat sack for consciousness. The car analogy he was not saying out loud was apt. It was a vehicle his friend could use to live. But the little bits of him that were human and ironically Donna were having a hard time with the morals. The morals Rose was having zero qualms with. He tugged at his hair hoping the mental stimulation would give him the answer. “Oh, I should never have cut contact with her, this is Donna’s decision.” 

“Doctor, we don’t have enough time to debate this. The nurses are bound to come in here soon and disconnect her or worse, start parceling out her organs since she’s not even on a respirator.” Rose winced, realizing they were keeping other people from receiving her parceled out organs. The Doctor made a mental note that if they did this, he would advance medicine here to make organ growth and regrowth easier.

“Yeah well her body is doing just fine without her for now until there’s no brain to tell it to eat or talk or…. I don’t have twenty minutes to meditate do I?” 

Rose stared.

“Right,” he growled, unbuttoning his cuffs and shoving his shirtsleeves up. “Hell with it. Tell me to do it.” 

“Do it,” Rose ordered with just the right amount of total faith in his abilities that he needed.

“Right,” he repeated, “This is probably going to hurt.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh, here we go... next up, squishing Donna into the new body.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sewing a soul into a body might have side effects.

The Doctor took a deep breath. He was going to pop a soul into a body. Well, he hoped that was what he was going to do. He was never going to let on to Rose that it had taken him months to get back up to full strength telepathically and he still felt a bit insecure. No point. He was doing this. Interlacing his fingers, he flipped and cracked them. Cracking his neck, he reached out and delicately touched Pete’s World Donna’s temples. 

Rose’s eyes flicked to his before she moved to block the door. She’d protect them while he did this, no doubt stunning anyone who tried to interfere. The Doctor put her out of his mind so he could focus on the task at hand. Closing his eyes, the Doctor sank down centimeter by centimeter into the yawning emptiness. Prepared for it this time, he created a wooden platform to stand on. He centered himself in the spot where her consciousness should have been, anchoring his mind in her body. It burned! It was like touching live wires. He gritted his teeth and prayed he wasn’t screaming. He stretched out tendrils to connect to her autonomic nervous system to keep an eye on everything and make sure it didn’t decide to stop functioning. If she up and died while he was in here, it would be bad.

“Ow, ow, ow,” he hissed as sparks bit into his personality. This body didn’t want him there unless he was setting up shop. No chance, he loved his foxy new hybrid body and wasn’t about to change it up now even if the red hair was tempting. “Focus, Doctor… get Donna here.”

He wove a bridge between this mind and his, using the platform as a tether. It was more like opening a hole in his own mind since she was in him and he was in her and he was never going to think about being in Donna again. Ick. He shot out a tether through his connection to Rose. He was using her to triangulate...well, to hold on to his own body even as he worked to ground himself deeper into this Donna’s empty mind. She’d left it pristine with nothing to hook into. He built a place to house Donna from scratch. The platform expanded into a replica of the Tardis’ library. It was a favorite among companions and Donna had been no different. Squashy chairs, a roaring, fire, loads of books containing the other Donna's memories, and a table with tea service appeared. The air even smelled like chlorine from the pool. Waves of nausea rushed up from his construct’s stomach. Exhaustion crept in on him. “I’m running out of time.”

He cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted, “Oi, Donna Noble! Hurry up.” 

The bridge swayed, dark and empty. He called again. The sharp sparks were receding, becoming electrical impulses he could use to control Donna’s limbs. His mind was linking to this one. He had to leave soon or he’d get stuck in here. “Hurry up!”

There was a flash of orange, flickering around the bridge. Donna’s shadow appeared. “What Is Happening?” she demanded, over-enunciating the way she did when she was terrified and trying not to show it.

“I’m kicking you out of my mind,” The Doctor shouted.

“What?” she squawked, solidifying on the bridge, her dark blue eyes terrified. “Why?”

“Hurry up Donna. I’ve found you a body. Well, technically Rose found you a new body. I made it habitable but she discovered it. Credit where credit’s due...” The Doctor saw his golden tether fraying. His voice pitched up, squeaky with terror, “Listen, we can hash it out later. Right now, I need to get you in place.” When she didn’t move, he growled, “Oi, move it Earth Girl!” 

“Oi, you can stop yelling at me,” Donna shouted, absolutely livid and shaking with fright. She took two more steps into the new mind. “Where am I? What is this? What’s happening?”

“I literally just--oh, never mind! Rose Found You A Body. You’re going to live. Don’t be frightened. Just step up here next to me. I’m going to seat you in here. Hook you up.”

“Like a DVR?” Donna demanded, taking another big step into her new body. 

“Faster,” he said through gritted teeth as his tether frayed a bit more. “I don’t want my body getting hijacked by a former personality. That rainbow-y one really likes Rose... Not to mention the one before me and that velvety frock coat one. Him, he’s a real charmer. I bet she might not even miss me if that one were to take over. NOW, DONNA.”

Donna reached him. He dragged her in for a hug. “You’re alright, this is good! You’re going to be able to travel with us! I’m growing a Tardis in my bathroom. Maybe you could even help me with my paperwork?”

She clung to him. “Now’s NOT the TIME to be TALKING about PAPERWORK,” she shouted.

“Right.” He squeaked as his tether frayed down to a few spindly rapidly dimming golden strings. “Here we go.”

He changed places with her. Holding her shoulders, he took her mind and sewed it into the body. He attached her nerves to neurons. Donna winced, crying out as the pulses hit her instead of him. She was almost plugged into her new body. It was delicate work and he was doing it in a completely hamfisted way, irresponsible way. The tether glowed with a pulse of worry from Rose before dulling to a sick copper.

“Doctor, it’s got to be good enough,” Donna said, her eyes on the sickly tether.

“I want to do it right. I can’t leave you unable to speak or walk or digest!” he growled, stapling her into her cerebral cortex and gluing her to her endocrine system. 

“Doctor, you have to go,” Donna said trembling. 

“I have to--” He reached to test the connections. Her mind zapped him. Yelping, he popped a finger into his mouth, “Donna!”

“No. You’ve done enough. I don’t want to get stuck in here with you. I love you, but you drive me barmy. Besides, Blondie would never forgive me. So, take the hint and F-”

The Doctor felt a shove from Donna and a pull from behind his navel as he was whipped back into his own body so fast he crashed backward and slid off the hospital bed onto the floor. The heavy scent of antiseptic hit him along with Rose’s lovely strawberry shampoo. The floor was cold and hard against his spine. He may have let out an embarrassing whimper.

Rose was beside him, her presence sending waves of calm through his burnt consciousness. Her fingers slipped into his hair, checking his scalp for lumps. He moaned pitifully so she would know he was still alive. “Come on, wake up for me,” Rose said in her gentlest voice. 

How could he resist that? REsist her? Nah, he never could. He opened his eyes. The harsh fluorescent lights gave her a golden halo as it filtered through her lovely blonde hair. She let out a laugh, so he must have said some of his thoughts out loud.

“Donna?” he asked as she helped him to his feet. His legs were spaghetti noodles. Oops! Connecting Donna had pulled some of his own connections loose. He fell against the hospital bed. Rose supported him until he was on the bed beside Donna. He tried to keep his eyes open. They were too heavy and kept slipping shut of their own accord. Every muscle in him felt foreign… disconnected. Rose murmured something comforting. The Doctor was pleasantly surprised to realize he could still drift into a healing coma. He blacked out.

Rose checked his pulse. It was steady but impossibly slow. His features smoothed out. She wanted to panic, she really did but he’d warned her back when he had two hearts that a healing coma was something his people could do. He’d taught her the signs to check for and what to do for him. His breathing and heart rate would slow. His temperature would ratchet up a bit. He would be unresponsive. “Don’t move him. Don’t let anyone else move him. Make sure his airway is clear. Loosen up clothing,” Rose muttered, reaching out to unbutton his collar. She brushed his sweaty brown hair out of his eyes and was suddenly nineteen again, staring at a newly regenerated Doctor. Rose bit her lip. “You’ll be okay, huh? And if not… I hope that insurance policy is working properly.” She kissed his sweaty forehead.

The door burst open. “Rose! What the hell is happening! Pete said you tazed a nurse!”

“He tried to stop the Doctor. I did warn him….Never mind that now, Pete will smooth it out, give him some money or something. Retcon him, whatever.”

“Rose Marion Tyler, we do not just erase memories when people annoy us…”

“Don’t we?” Rose asked with cheek.

Jackie had approached the bed giving her a sour look before seeing Donna. “Is that the Doctor’s friend Donna?”

“Yeah, she is now. The other one, the Pete’s World Donna was in a car accident. Dad and I saw the tail end of it. She was brain dead so we… sort of hijacked her body for our Donna...S’alien stuff, Mum. She’s our Donna now. I think. Too soon to tell. Think the Doctor hurt himself fixing her. He’s healin’ but he can’t be moved, alright?”

“Like Christmas?” Jackie asked, reaching out to smooth his jacket.

“Like Christmas,” Rose agreed. 

“Should I pop out and make him some tea, do you think?” Jackie asked, keeping her voice low.

Rose threw her arms around her mother. “I love you.”

“He’ll be alright, sweetheart,” Jackie cooed, hugging her back. “You can sense him with your weird alien thing, can’t you? Go on, try.”

Rose did not roll her eyes at her mother’s inability to understand telepathy. They’d hashed this out right after it had happened. Rose closed her eyes feeling the baby Tardis warm and golden. Holding onto that comforting warmth she felt for the Doctor. She felt two sleeping minds. One was definitely the cool blue of the Doctor’s mind. The other was a fiery mauve. She opened her eyes. “They’re alright.”

Jackie glanced up at the readings. “All those squiggles gotta mean something. I can’t make hide nor hair of them. Is it... A lot of squiggles are good? Do you reckon? Or bad?”

“Good.”

Jackie took that in. “Right then, nice cup of tea, that’s what everyone needs.”

“Mum, jus’ keep everyone out. Tell ‘em if anyone comes in here…” Rose pulled her small stun gun from her calf holster.

“Calm down, no need to get all violent about it. Pete and I can handle a few nurses.” Jackie gave her a disapproving sniff as she left in search of tea.

Rose sat heavily next to the pair of ‘em. She watched the EEG producing loads of ‘squiggles.’ The graphs spiked. Donna’s breathing became shallower. Her fingers twitched. A groan escaped her. Rose’s medical training in no way encompassed soul transplants. To be safe, Rose hit the call button. She reached out to catch Donna’s hand. The fingers were cold and limp but Donna managed a gentle squeeze. Rose squeezed back.

Owen Harper appeared. “You rang?”

“You’re not on staff here,” Rose remarked.

“You tazed the staff.” He replied mildly. “Anyhow, your father, my boss, thought it best if you had a UNIT doctor for this one since your boyfriend’s not exactly normal and seems to have crawled into bed with this random woman.” 

Rose bristled. “They should have sent Tosh.” 

Owen Harper ignored her and moved to the side opposite from where the Doctor was lying still, breathing shallow. “What did he do to her?”

“He sort of healed her,” Rose offered. “S’complicated and alien. You wouldn’t understand.” 

He frowned. “How? Does he have weird alien healing powers?” he asked as he lifted Donna’s hand to check her response. She managed to squeeze his fingers too. He lifted her eyelid and shone a light. “Pupils are reactive. Pulse is steady. Hey there beautiful. Are you awake?”

Donna murmured something. Owen leaned in. She repeated it and he laughed. He glanced at Rose, eyes bright. “She told me where I could put my torch.”

Rose smirked.

“I like her. Don’t suppose you want to tell me who she is?” Owen asked, checking her vitals.

“So not going to happen, Harper. She’s none of your business.” Rose rolled her eyes at him. 

“Right, you Tylers like your secrets, don’t you? Or is it because it’s scandalous? Aliens have affairs too, just like people.” Owen smirked.

Rose arched a brow.

“What about the Doctor? Want me to--?” Owen lifted his stethoscope.

“No.” Rose blocked him. “Don’t touch him.”

“Right,” Owen straightened up, pursing his thin lips. “Well, your boyfriend’s mysterious lady friend is fine. All her blood gases are normal. She’s responsive. Her heart and lungs are clear. She’s fine. We'll have to rest her reflexes when she comes fully ‘round.” He turned to Donna. “You’re doing great for someone who was brought in brain dead. I saw your chart and your scans and up until about five minutes ago, you were going to be chopped up for parts.” 

“I’ll chop you up for parts,” Donna muttered, “What sort of doctor are you anyway? Your bedside manners are appalling. Where did you get your license? Crackerjacks?” Her voice was faint and wispy, but the sentiments were heartwarming. Rose could kiss her!

Owen let out a long-suffering sigh. “Fine. Suit yourselves. I was on a date. I came here as a favor to your father. She’s fine and just as annoying as him. They’re perfect for each other.” He looked between them before quitting the room in a huff.

“What a quack,” Donna muttered. “I’m not sending him any thank you cards…An’ the way he kept insinuating...” a delicate shudder went through her, “that’s disgusting.”

“Sh,” Rose sat back down, reaching out to hold the Doctor’s hand. “Save your strength.”

Donna’s eyes opened. “I feel… I don’t know how I feel. My body feels…” She wriggled her fingers. Gently she shook her head. She blinked the right, then the left eye. “I can’t move my legs! He slammed me in here and he said it was too fast…”

“Don’t panic,” Rose advised. “You just got in there. Might take a moment to adjust. Take a deep breath and concentrate on your toes. Go on. Try again.”

Donna’s left foot wiggled. “Ooo! Oh, good.” She relaxed. “Can you adjust the bed so I’m sitting up?” she turned her head to regard the Doctor. “Why are we in bed together? No wonder that little weasel was being obnoxious. I only let him share the bed once. I told him I’d thump him…”

Rose giggled with relief. Donna sounded just so Donna. “You let him share a bed with you?”

“Once! I woke up in the middle of the night with no blankets and him snoring up a storm. I ended up sneaking off to sleep in the library. It was alright, he needed the rest.” Donna reached to touch him, pulling back at the last second. “Is he alright?”

Rose nodded. “Yeah, ‘course he is. Or he will be. The mental stuff is exhausting. What do you remember?”

“Oh my god! I was on the Tardis! It was on fire and I heard this heartbeat… I touched the Doctor’s spare...oh, no way! That’s him, he’s the hand?” Donna asked.

“He’s a bit more than a hand,” Rose said.

“Where’s the other one? The um,” Donna trailed off. “Oh, my head is stuffed with weird memories. I have a brother who hates me? He hates me? Well, I’m not havin’ him over for Christmas now am I?” Donna shook her head. “My head...woof.”

“Take it slower then.”

“How?” Donna demanded. “Am I bruised? My head feels like I listened to this one explain physics.” She indicated the Doctor. “My mother hates me too? Well, that’s not too different then…” Donna stalled out. “These are not my memories. I know my memories. I almost got married to a man who was going to feed me to a giant spider woman. My best friend was Nerys who let’s face it wasn’t great until this skinny thing came along… No, I came along. I ended up on his Tardis...Rose...what’s happening?”

Donna, it’s fine. You’ve got some residual memories from the Pete’s World version of you.”

“What’s Pete’s World?” Donna asked.

“Here. We’re here in an alternate universe. The one I was trapped in. Remember? The Doctor dropped my mother, myself, and the Doctor in blue that you created, off here.”

“Why the hell would he do that? He was so mopy without you and...so happy to hear you were coming back.”

Rose’s heart hurt. She bit her lip. “He had a helluva a way of showing it.”

“Sorry,” Donna murmured.  
“Listen, the long story is so long. Let’s just talk about now, okay? I got an alert on my phone. I’d been looking for you and found Donald. I thought you didn’t exist here. But this morning I got an alert from the hospital where you were born. You’re a twin!”

“No,” she drawled. “No way, no, I would know if I had a brother. I never did.” Donna shuffled.

“Gingerbread houses,” Rose told her.

Donna blinked. “You what?”

Rose hit the button to shift her into a sitting position. The Doctor slid down farther, staying prone. Rose adjusted him. He was dead weight. Rose bit her lip. Donna took his other hand.

“Is he going to be alright?” 

“Yeah. Think so. Hope so.”

“Good because you are rubbish at explanations.” 

“I am, yeah,” Rose laughed.

“Rose,” Donna’s voice weakened. “Think I’m going to rest for a bit. Don’t leave me alone in bed with your skinny alien boyfriend.” Donna drifted off to sleep next to the Doctor who appeared dead. 

The room suddenly felt lonely and too quiet. Pete came back with a cup of coffee and a promise to get cover stories for everything and everyone. He had retconned the nurse and a doctor who had said Donna was braindead. He left her alone to get one with it.

Rose drank the coffee and a few cups more. She stared at the Doctor’s face. Donna’s soft snores and the beeps of the machines were the only sounds in the room. Jackie had gone home to Tony after midnight. She was leaning against the bed now, supporting her head in her hands. It had been a long day and it would be so easy to fall asleep…

“You’re right Zoe! I’ve never seen so many ducks before in my life! Well, don’t feed them, Jamie! They’re glowing! Oh, my giddy aunt!” The Doctor exclaimed. His body jerked into motion. He was halfway out of the bed before he noticed her. His eyes zeroed in on her face. “Blimey Rose, you look tired.”

Rose let out a wet laugh. Tears leaked out of her eyes. The Doctor embraced her, the warm sleepy scent of him enveloping him, his active mind soothing hers. Rose gripped him, embarrassed by her stress tears. He didn’t mind. She pulled back to wipe at her eyes. “You’ve been out for hours.”

A sheepish expression crept up over his face. He plunged a hand into his hair mussing it. “I erm, underestimated how complicated,” he waved a hand around, “it all was. Sorry. I singed my consciousness a bit, a smidge,” he muttered, holding his fingers up to indicate a pinch. “Did it work?”

“Pipe down, Martian, some people are trying to sleep.”

The Doctor looked at Donna then back at Rose, beaming. “Aw, brilliant!”

“Shut it,” Donna growled.

The Doctor beamed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you're enjoying this one. It's fun to write.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What do you do when you're stuffed full of other peoples' memories? Probably a sleep over.

The Doctor was still up and shoveling food into his empty middle. Donna was snoring. Rose was dozing in the chair. It was a good day, erm, night, erm next morning? Yes, his time sense said it was after six AM, officially morning. He was proud of himself! No headaches, no permanent damage. His legs had resumed regular noodle-less function. If they could get Donna out of here and back to their flat, he could do a telepathic once over and let her loose in Pete’s World.

Also, having a best friend was another checkmark on his secret list of human things to do that did not misalign with his list of Doctor-y things to do. Marry Rose was on there too and have a pet… Gallifreyan check, human check TBD, Reggie, Reggie’s friend Leah, and the Tardis counted as pets… There were only a hundred things left to do and he wasn't even a year old yet.

Pete appeared in the doorway dressed in a sleek charcoal gray business suit. He looked very important and just a teensy bit imposing. The Doctor waved him in and offered him a fruit cup. Pete accepted leaning against the bed. “Good morning, Doctor! Want to tell me about the woman in the bed?”

“She’s called Donna Noble...Well, she was in our original Universe.” He made a face. “I don’t know anything about the Donna from this universe. She might not be a Noble…”

“You took her last name,” Pete remarked mildly. 

“Only until I marry Rose and take her last name…” he said waving that off. “The original Donna’s mind was wiped… it was to honor her sacrifice to create me.”

“You’re like a comic book character, you know that?” Pete shook his head. “I’ve given up on keeping track of the details.”

“Learn that from Jackie Tyler?” the Doctor snarked and earned a dirty look from his eventual father-in-law. Moving on, he asked, “Did she have a purse with her when the car hit her?”

“Yeah, says Donna Noble. She’s temporarily staying with a friend of hers. Seems she’s down on her luck.” Pete took a spoon and fished out the cherry halves. Rose did that too.

“Well, her luck has changed, or no, her luck might be exactly the same but she’s not. The original Donna died when she was hit by the car yesterday. It happens sometimes. The shock shakes loose the consciousness and it just...leaves.” The Doctor stopped eating, appetite lost. “Anyhow, now she’s housing a shiny, brash new consciousness. When she wakes up she’ll be a completely different person. Is that going to cause issues for UNIT?”

Pete pinched the bridge of his nose. “Depends on what her family thinks. With a head injury, we do have the perfect scapegoat for a personality change. Where the hell did you get Donna’s new consciousness? You’re not just carrying them around?”

“I thought you didn’t want to keep track of the details, he teased. 

“Humor a poor human man, will you? I’m the one who gets left with all the paperwork when you two do the things you do. Are you? Carrying around consciousnesses?” 

The Doctor snorted. “What? You think I’m carrying like ten personalities around, ten separate consciousnesses all waiting to be popped into new bodies? Ha! Ha!” 

His barking laugh jolted Rose awake. A pang of guilt went through him. 

“Mmmph,” Rose said adorably.

He reached out to catch her hand. “Sorry. It’s morning anyhow. We should get you into a real bed. That chair isn’t good for your back or your neck. You should have shared with Donna,” he admonished.

“Nah, Donna needed her rest and I will cuddle whoever is nearest. ‘Sides, I didn’t mean to fall asleep.” Rose stretched and clicked as her synovial fluid popped gas bubbles. “How is she?”

“Sleeping normally. I scanned her with the sonic, no issues except the snoring.” The Doctor offered her his tea which she graciously accepted. “I talked the kitchen into some breakfast. I can get you something-?”

“Thanks, no. Dad, can you get Donna released?” Rose stood up, groaning as her muscles protested. “We shouldn’t hang around in case someone in her family comes looking for her.”

“Sweetheart, that could be considered kidnapping,” Pete said drolly.

The Doctor shrugged. “We’ve done worse. I need to get back to the Tardis and Donna should be near me for the next twenty-four hours.”

Rose frowned. “Why?”

“Rejection,” the Doctor replied, sliding off the bed to crack his own bones back into place. “Blimey, that bed isn’t nearly as soft as the one in our bedroom at home. They should consider getting that pillow thing we’ve got. I’ve only got one life left, can’t spend all day aching and moaning.”

“Can’t you?” Rose asked, arching a brow.

“Oi, the cheek of this one!” He faced Pete who was smirking. “Last night I performed a pretty fantastic piece of psychic surgery and do I get credit? No, I get teased for my aching back and my singed personality,” he grumbled. “If the body rejects her mind--strictly a precaution, mind, then I’ll be nearby to put her back up here for safe-keeping.” He tapped his head. “She might need time to adjust to being corporeal again. Better to do that with friends than family members who are strangers with familiar faces. Can’t abide a run-in with this universe’s Sylvia right now.”

“You’re not suggesting a sleepover are you?” Rose asked.

“I love a good sleepover, me,” he said and grinned.

Rose rolled her eyes. “He likes to have his nails painted but can’t admit it, too manly.”

“I like a manicure,” Pete admitted, “your mum does it for me to save my manly dignity from the salon. Listen, I can get her released. I’m assuming you’ll want her to work with us, considering she’s not from around here?”

“Yes, please,” Rose and the Doctor said together.

Pete let out a breath. “The things I do for my children.”

“I’m over a thousand years old,” the Doctor grumbled. “I’m not a child.”

Pete’s brows went up. “You’re talking about sleepovers as an adult man. You eat like a toddler. You have zero social graces--”

“That’s not--” he glanced at Rose, “Oh come on! That’s not fair! Human manners don’t count! I’m not human for Rassilon’s sake. Tell him, Rose.”

Rose was laughing into his tea that he’d shared with her, the ungrateful wretch. 

Pete continued, “You destroy other people’s appliances…You robbed my wife’s garden--”

“For a good cause!” he shouted, mouth dropping open. “I replaced most of it.”

“He’s winding you up,” Rose said, squeezing his fingers. “You’re so easy,” she drawled and turned to her father, “it’s because he’s so young, y’see. He’s not even a year old...God, imagine when he hits his terrible twos…”

The Doctor dead-eye stared the pair of cackling Tylers. “If you’re finished? We need to get Donna out of the hospital as soon as possible before--”

A tall handsome ginger man appeared in the doorway. His zygomatic arches were identical to Donna’s along with the shade of ginger hair, the pale skin and a facial structure that favored Wilf. Also, funnily enough, he smelled like Donna. Uh oh, this was the twin Rose had mentioned. Had to be. And this was the exact scenario he was hoping to avoid. “Oh, and it had started off as such a lovely morning!”

“Who are all of you?” Donald demanded. 

Pete and Rose had a silent Tyler conversation consisting of eye and brow movements before Rose lost...or won? She stood up and shifted from regular Rose Tyler to Vitex Heiress slash UNIT leader, Rose Tyler. Was she taller now? She seemed taller somehow…

“Donald Noble?” Rose asked hand outstretched. 

“Mott, actually,” Donald corrected with his deeper, more masculine version of Donna’s voice. “My sister kept our father’s name. The nurse said she was in an accident. Who are you?”

“Rose Tyler, my father Pete Tyler, and my fiance. He’s a doctor, you can just call him the Doctor. We were with your sister yesterday. She had just agreed to sign on at our office as my personal secretary when she was in an accident. She was hit by a car. The police have the incident report if you’re interested.”

Donny didn’t look like the sort to care about the incident report. The Doctor took an instant dislike to him. From Rose’s stiff posture, she wasn’t enjoying their interaction either. She warmed her voice up, saying, “She’s a bit bruised but okay. She’s a tough one, Donna. The doctor says she has a concussion. She’s alright though, she was awake and talking with Dr. Harper last night.”

Donny took all of it in with a rather nasty smirk. The Doctor bristled. Instead of pouncing, he smiled and extended his hand. He gripped Donald’s hand and got a flash of confirmation. Donna’s brother was amused by his sister’s condition. What could have happened between Pete’s World Donna and her twin to garner that sort of animosity? Even he and Brax were warmer toward one another and Brax had thought his little brother an idiot. Deciding to call it out, he asked, “You don’t seem all that concerned, Mr. Mott. She is your twin, is she not?”

Donald frowned. “We’re not close. Children of divorce. She went with her father. I stayed with Mum. Listen, I’d like a word with my sister alone. And frankly, it’s weird to see her surrounded by people whose only connection to her is a job interview.”

“It was an impressive job interview,” Pete added, catching the Doctor’s eye.

They piled out into the hallway. “He’s her next of kin,” the Doctor muttered. “I don’t like this. What if he wants to take her home?”

“She’s not a child. She can just say she wants to go with us,” Rose whispered, “Now shush, I’m trying to eavesdrop.”

A glass of water hit the door. “Get out and stay out!” Donna shouted. “You go home to your harpy of a mother and tell her I never want to see either one of you again!”

“Well, isn’t that wizard! Why the hell would I ever expect you to be anything other than a nasty little viper? Eh? I’m glad you got hit by a car, you ungrateful brat! I’m just sad it didn’t knock any sense into you. I’m going and I won’t be back.”

“Good!” Donna shouted and launched the pitcher after the cup.

Donald fled the room. “Still want to hire her? She’s a vicious bi-”

“I wouldn’t end that sentence, mate,” Rose said.

That tone usually made the Doctor back up and alien invaders cower. Kings and Queens withered when Rose used that tone. She had shifted her weight into a defensive stance. The Doctor could feel the potential energy rolling off of her. She wanted to hit him. The Doctor clamped down on his own violent urges. Pete had no such compunction, stepping forward to growl, “That’s enough out of you. Off you go.”

Donald looked between the three of them before stalking off.

“I’ll go get her discharged before any more loving family makes an appearance, shall I?” Pete disappeared down the white hallway.  
In the end, no one complained about them taking her out of the hospital. After her encounter with Donny, Donna was silent. Rose and he helped her into their flat. Once she was settled onto the couch, Rose disappeared into the shower. The Doctor looked longingly after her for a minute before a laugh distracted him. 

“You are so obvious. Go follow her. I’m alright.”

“Hey, no you’re not,” the Doctor hunkered down in front of her. “You just landed in a parallel world. Welcome! We’ve all been through it, me, Rose, Jackie, and now you. The chips taste like rubbish. There’s something wrong with the tea, and there’s no queen.”

“No royal weddings? Put me out of my misery,” Donna groaned. “Who wears the big hats then?”

“Spain. Listen, it’s fine. You can get used to it. Besides, we’re growing a Tardis. So, in a year or two we’ll be back to traveling. Same old life…” He gave her a soft smile. “You said you wanted to travel with me forever and now you can!”

“And Rose,” Donna remarked. “I’m a third wheel now.”

“Oh, we’ll find you your own wheel and then we’ll be stable,” he teased. “Rose will love having you around. She doesn’t say anything but we have a link and I know she thinks I need friends. Enough about me, erm, us, how do you feel?” The Doctor whipped out his sonic and Donna shoved his hand away before he could scan her.

“You don’t need to bleep me with that thing. I’m alright.”

The Doctor sighed. “Yeah, you look alright. How’s your head, oddly full?”

“I-she wasn’t a very nice person,” Donna admitted. “She wasn’t an awful person but she was selfish and cruel to her mother. She has never once gone to see Wilf. He’s living in a pensioner’s home. My gramps is all alone… Not that they’re much better. My brother, the sweetheart, is the one that said he was old and useless and convinced my mother to put him in the home.”

“He might like it--?” 

She gave him a withering stare. “I don’t want to be her.”

“Great, don’t. You aren’t her. You’re you.”

“Yeah, I suppose. What about you? You’re not you, are you? You sound like you and you act like you and I can already see all the you-ishness in there but you’re not. You’re...what are you? Where’s the other Doctor? Why’d he leave Rose here? Is he alright?”   
Standing up, he walked into the kitchen and put the kettle on, biting his lip so hard he tasted blood. “Erm, I am me. All the memories, all the things we did, I did them. I was there on Volcano Day. I had cocktails with Agatha Christie… I let you slap me while you were wearing a wedding dress. I’m me. You’d have to ask the other Doctor why he was stupid enough to leave Rose behind and I’m sure he’s had a mental breakdown by now. I wasn’t exactly stable then.” The kettle clicked off. He made three mugs of tea and plopped a tin of biscuits onto the tray.

Donna frowned. “Sorry… the other one, the older one with the long white hair, he said you were unique but he called you the Doctor.”

“Yeah, it’s fine. I’ll tell you the whole story about the Crucible another day.”

“Is Martha Jones alright? And Sarah Jane and that handsome Captain Jack?” Donna asked.

“Fine. Fine. Fine. Everyone is fine. They all made it home alright. Drink your tea.”

“Shut up Donna,” Donna muttered, “okay, this is me shutting up.” She sipped the tea and made a face. “Oh! This is…”

“Rancid?” the Doctor asked. “Don’t tell Rose, but I found a few things in my pockets and I’m trying to grow proper staples. I want to surprise her. So...mum’s the word.”

Donna frowned. “I remember liking this. Oh, I do not like her memories. Did you know, she dumped her first boyfriend because he wore too much blue. Who cares about that? He was hot and had all these muscles and he was in the military!” 

The Doctor snorted into his own gross tea. “How are your memories? Do they feel solid or ephemeral versus hers?”

“Mm, I remember Lance… I remember Peri and I going to Thorus Beta. Nope, that one’s yours. I remember being on the Sontaran ship. It feels...her memories feel sharper. Oh, do not tell me I am eventually going to become her. What would be the point of all of this?” Donan glanced down at herself in a loose tracksuit Rose had purchased for her to come home in. “I went to all those amazing places and all I get to remember is that Nerys is my best friend?” She made a face. “I hate her. She was dancing with my Lance at my almost wedding…”

“Poor Lance.”

“Oh, don’t start.” Donna put her mug down. “Are the biscuits salty?”

“No, they’re good. They have loads of good new flavors like bacon mint…” the Doctor teased. “I’m kidding. Don’t worry about your memories. If you let me, I can fix them.”

“You’re going to go inside my head?”

He nodded.

“And erase her memories?”

“No. I’m going to help you store them. You might need information from her like her bank accounts or what pensioner’s home Wilf is in. They’ll be there like a book you read. No influence over your personality.” He fell into the armchair, sinking into it.

“What about all the adventures I had in your memories?”

“You want them erased?”

“Oh no, I want to remember every single embarrassing moment your other selves showed me.” Donna’s smirk was a bit evil. "What the hell is that?" Donna asked, noticing the vivarium. "Is that a hedgehog? He's glowing pink!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Almost at the end of this one!


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Donna gets her personality under control with a little help from her friends.

Rose woke up to soft conversation. The Doctor and Donna were in the living room talking. Except for the random excited outburst, they had been trying to keep it down for her. After a sleepless night worrying about the pair of them, Rose had needed a time out. She had learned over the years that a sleepless Rose was a Rose prone to bung a shoe at whatever was in her way. The Doctor respected it now. It had taken quite a few shoes to get her point across to him.

Stretching, she didn't bother to dress. Donna wouldn’t mind her soft pink striped cotton pajamas. She grabbed a jumper to throw on over her camisole and made her way to the living room. She paused to listen, unsure if she would be interrupting. Also, because she wasn’t awake enough to join in if he was explaining something complicated. 

“Yeah well, you in my head, seems dodgy,” Donna was saying. “You couldn’t even fly the Tardis properly after hundreds of years and you want to start messing around with memories. Bit more delicate than hitting the Tardis with a hammer, isn’t it?” 

Rose smirked, imagining the love of her life sputtering in indignation. He would gape at her like a fish for a few seconds before responding. 

“That is… the Tardis was meant to have several pilots. I do it all by my lonesome. It’s always been a miracle none of us ended up in a black hole.”

“Comfort, thy name is Doctor!” Donna’s tone was exasperated. “And you want to get in here and much about? I’m not having you drop my personality into a black hole by accident. Besides, you told me once it was sort of… intimate.”

Rose’s eyebrows went up. He’d told Donna about that? This she had to hear. Wishing she had a door to hide her and a glass cup to listen up against it, Rose inched closer. She could just about make them out. The Doctor was sitting on the coffee table, legs crossed, expression delightfully nonplussed.

“What?”

“Right, remember that night we talked about how you and Rose shared a bit more than friends do,” Donna began, being deliberately coy. That wasn’t going to work. The Doctor needed blunt statements when it came to delicate matters. Like the hammer to the Tardis… “Well, you and I are not having any of that.”

Rose snorted. Ducking back into the hall, she covered her mouth to stop from laughing.

“What are you on about, you daft woman?”

“You and Rose and your freaky alien sex thing,” Donna hissed.

“Oh,” Rose whispered, “I wish I had a camera!”

“WHAT? That… no,” he stated. “That’s different! So different. So incredibly different. So far from the same that the same has lost all meaning and moved to Clom.”

“Clom?” Donna’s voice pitched up. “Clom. You say Clom like it’s not some weird alien sex planet.”

“Donna, that’s neither here nor… You humans! All you think about is your libidos!”

“And the weird blobby aliens on Clom, what are they thinking about ALL. THE. TIME. Half alien boy,” Donna snarked.

Rose had slid down the wall. She couldn’t control her giggles. She shoved her mouth up against her armpit hoping the fabric would muffle them. She wished her mum were here! Well, maybe not until the freaky alien sex acts were done being mentioned, thank you. No need to bring that up again. That conversation had been endless.

“You said that when you’re in someone’s head it’s… like… Follow me. Because I’m not saying it.” 

The Doctor’s silence was palpable. “That’s not what I want to do, believe me. That’s never what I want to do with you.”

“Nor me with you,” Donna said.

“Right.”

“Right,” Donna echoed. “Good.”

“Just so we’re clear, that can’t ever happen between us. Not only because I’m claimed but because we share DNA and the link would never bend that way. It’s a freaky alien thing. Not that I’d want to because as I mentioned, happily claimed over here.” 

Rose stopped giggling. She imagined the Doctor was holding up his hands to fend Donna’s ideas off. She stood up, brushing herself off, and wiping the tears from her eyes. She was about to enter the room, when Donna asked, “Claimed. What’s that like? What’s that about?”

The Doctor’s voice lowered, going all soft and gooey like it did when he was telling her how brilliant she was or how lovely little Redgie’s nose was. “Rose, she made the mental connection between us. She claimed me as…” one of the Doctor’s musical words trilled out into the room. Rose felt her insides heat up. “So,” he continued, “no one else can. Not that I’d want to be claimed by anyone else. Happily…” a vaguely familiar Celtic sounding word slipped out of him.

“I don’t understand a word you’re saying,” Donna said. “Is it Welsh you’re speaking? Gaelic? Weird freaky alien language for she’s your girlfriend?”

“Yes, fine...Anyhow, doesn’t matter. I’m in a purely platonic manner, going to fix your memories as the main ones. I’ll store the other ones. While I’m doing that, Rose will ground you, this personality by keeping you occupied with a sleepover in your mind. It will also be purely platonic, alright? You’re safe from freaky alien sex. And you can stop giggling over there Rose Tyler and put the kettle back on.”

Rose waved at Donna sheepishly. Donna waved back. The Doctor gave her a big soft smile, the kind she loved where the skin around his eyes crinkled. He slipped into the kitchen behind her. He hugged her from behind, inhaling her scent. “Good nap?”

“Mm, I feel almost human,” Rose told him as she walked with him wrapped around her to the fridge to grab the milk. “So I claimed you, mm?”

“Yep. Now you’re stuck with me,” he murmured, turning away to grab mugs.

“Stuck with you, s’not so bad.” 

He grinned.

“Aw, you two are adorable. He says we share DNA Rose. Does that make me his mum?” Donna asked. “Because no one asked me if he could marry you or if he should be let out on his own. Poor dear is a bit addled.”

“Stop it,” the Doctor growled. “You had a hand in creating me. We share some genetic markers. We’re more like loomlings or something similar that’s human-y.”

“Siblings,” Rose supplied. “Suppose we’re sisters-in-law. Great! I’ve always wanted a sister.” She winked at Donna. “And Donna needs family.”

“Too right,” Donna agreed. “My mother’s even worse in this dimension. But once I’m all cemented into this body with no chance of becoming Evil Donna, I’m getting Gramps out of that place and into someplace cozier.” 

“We can let you use one of the flats,” Rose said, pouring hot water into mugs. “We’ve three empty once to let. You can pick one of them.”

“I can’t, no I can’t, really I can’t,” Donna protested as Rose brought the tray over to her. “I need to earn my own place in this world. Get a job. Rent a house or flat… do it all on my own.”

“That’s stupid,” the Doctor interjected.

“Rude,” Rose sang out.

“No, it is. It’s stupid. They’re my flats. I bought them with gems you stole from Caliburn G’orxis when he tried to make you his thirteenth concubine,” the Doctor said to Donna. 

Rose’s eyebrows lifted. Donna tilted her head as if to say, “yeah well.”

“So they’re as much your flats as mine and Rose’s. Take the one by the river. Wilf will love it. I modified the terrace to make the stars visible. We can even get you a telescope as a housewarming gift.” The Doctor sat back on the table after he handed Donna her mug.

“Those flats are Rose’s too,” Donna admonished.

“I don’t mind. I like Wilf.” 

Donna was gobsmacked. “You’re not going to let me say no.”

“I’m even more stubborn than he is,” Rose said, with a feral grin. “And I’m willing to let the flat go for that story. I need that story.”  
The Doctor clapped his hands. “Later. The sooner we get Donna’s head taken care of, the sooner we can go telescope shopping. Do you think they have the ones that are all brass and wood?” 

“Those are the really classy ones.” The Doctor and Donna said together.

“Oh my God, you’re twins!” Rose said with an unladylike guffaw.

“Noooo,” the both drawled. Stopping they glared at one another.

Rose was going to die laughing. She snorted into her mug so hard bubbles appeared in her tea. The Doctor raised his eyes heavenward. “It’s not funny, Rose.”

“It is,” Rose replied. “Hilarious.”

The Doctor plopped his mug down on the coffee table and bounced onto the couch beside Donna. “We should get this done. The longer we wait the more we risk the alternate personality damaging Donna’s sparkling personality.”

Donna paled. “She’s horrid.”

“I’m sure she’s not,” Rose protested.

“Imagine you with all the good bits plucked out? She is. How do we do this?”

The Doctor grabbed for Rose’s hand pulling her up onto the couch. “You touch my temples. I’ll bridge. Then I touch Donna and…. Everybody into the pool.”

Rose touched the Doctor’s temples. There was a rush of cool air and she was standing in the Tardis library. Donna was there pacing in front of the fire. She was dressed in dark jeans and a gray tunic top. A brown leather coat finished off the outfit. Her feet were bare. Rose glanced down. Her feet were also bare. She glanced up and Donn’s outfit flickered to the black pantsuit she’d been wearing when she was hit by the car. It flickered before going back to the tunic.

“Donna, tell me about you,” Rose said, as she took in the familiar surroundings. “Also, tell me what happened to the big sectional? The Doctor and I used to…” she trailed off.

“Yeah, he wasn’t much of a cuddler by the time I started traveling with him.” Donna stepped forward. Her hair grew longer, falling more fully around her shoulders. Rose stared at the small armchair until it grew back out into the familiar sectional. Donna gasped. “How did you-?”

“We’re in your head. Just takes a bit of imagination,” Rose said flopping down onto the soft fabric. The rich scent of books, popcorn, and the Doctor’s old cologne drifted up. She beamed.   
“Where’s he then?” Donna asked, flopping down beside her. A plate of brownies appeared on the table. 

Rose stared at the edges of the library. Flickers of the Doctor appeared and disappeared as if he were a ghost on a bad piece of film. “He’s here. Jus’ busy.” Her outfit switched to the pantsuit. “Donna, what happened with Caliburn?”

“Oh, him,” Donna sniffed. “He liked my red hair. Twelve wives and all of them blonde. Well, white blonde. They were more like skunks than people. We were on this tour. The Doctor said they had the best cream soda this side of Andromeda, whatever that means. And we went to taste it. I thought it was bloody brilliant! The bubbles would actually change colors as they popped above the drink! Imagine that! The Doctor said they showed moods. Mine were so many colors and his were blue. I guess I just have more moods.”

Rose grinned. Her outfit had shifted to a green top and another pair of dark jeans. Several pieces of jewelry snapped into place. The Doctor’s presence in her mind was warm, pleased. Keep it up he whispered into her ear. Rose waved her hand and a tray of nail varnish bottles appeared along with a full manicure kit. Donna grabbed Rose’s hand and started filing. 

“You’ve done a number on these,” Donna complained, quickly correcting the thumbnail Rose liked to gnaw on. “So, we’re having a great time ordering cakes that float and laughing at this play about large dogs. It was hilarious, you had to be there. And here comes Caliburn, this great bloody handsome prince type with raven hair and green eyes. We flirt a bit. The Doctor’s annoying. He asks me to marry him. Mentions his twelve wives. Say thanks but no thanks. He kidnaps me. I spent a night in his harem,” she ground out. 

“What?”

“I know, me, Donna Noble, Harem girl! I convinced the ladies that equal rights were a thing. We had a little revolution. The Doctor appeared just in time to unlock the door for us. We robbed him blind on the way out.”

Rose grinned. “Of course you did!” She gave a warm thought for the Donna who sacrificed herself in that pocket universe. This Donna. 

Donna stopped filing to stare at Rose. “He mentioned you. Not all the time. And it was like pulling teeth but the first time we met it was right after he lost you. I didn’t know until later. I showed up screaming and terrified and he helped me. I thought… I don’t know what I thought but he was so sad without you. And, now I’m realizing we don’t know anything about one another.”

“We have all night,” Rose offered. “Let me tell you about how I met the Doctor. Then you can tell me about Wilf. He faced off against a Dalek with a paintball gun. That makes him pretty spectacular!”

Rose kept the conversation going. The wine appeared. She got an education on Sylvia, Wilf, and Lance. Donna told stories in a way that made Rose sad that the woman didn’t see how awesome she was. Rose saw instantly what the Doctor saw in her. If she were the Doctor-and she’d had to be a few times while dimension jumping, she would have wanted Donna to watch her back. 

Her outfits shifted when she told stories to presumably the outfit she had been wearing that day. After a while, the black suit the other Donna had died in stopped showing up. The Doctor’s mind where it touched hers was slowing down. He was tiring. In the middle of a story about Agatha Christie and a giant wasp, he appeared in his brown pinstripes.

“You look awful,” Donna blurted out.

“Yes, thank you, Donna,” he replied, voice gruff. He slipped down onto the sectional behind Rose. And arm snaked around her middle, pulling her close. “How do you feel?”

“Fine,” Donna said, before pausing. Her eyes were unfocused. “Better. What did you do?”

“Weird alien stuff,” he said, leaning heavily against Rose. 

“No, but I feel alright. My mind feels less,” she waved her hands around.

“Why do you and your brother hate one another?” the Doctor asked.

“He stole my credit card and wracked up a twenty thousand pound debt. Oh? He did. That’s weird. Apparently, I retaliated by telling his fiance he was cheating on her. Oh, that's mean! Wow, I don't feel anything about it except annoyed with myself for being petty. But it's not like it's me. It's her. It's... It was like reading it off of a Snapple cap. No emotions… just facts. That’s good. That’s brilliant!” Donna beamed.

“Now, how did it feel when you slapped me?” the Doctor asked.

Rose turned to arch a brow and he turned her back to watch Donna. Donna’s eyes grew stormy. “Good. I was so angry and you were being so… well, now I know you were just excited about something weird and alien but then you were too much. I was in my wedding dress--Oh, there’s quite a lot of emotion with that memory. It’s different! Like I was there. The other was so not me. This is so much better! I’m all me!”

“You’re all you,” the Doctor agreed.

“What about me? I was feeling both of you for a bit?” Rose asked.  
“Mm, that’ll fade. She was in the deep dark locked recesses of my mind. You’ve been there. The others are linked to you too. I just repress them because they are so terribly annoying.” He leaned his head against the sectional, eyes closing. “I’m going to rest a bit here.” 

Rose waited until his breathing evened out. She brushed his hair out of his eyes. When she turned back to Donna, there was a wild glint in her eyes. A pile of bows was in her hands.

Rose grinned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another happy ending, who would have thunk it? Thanks for reading! The comments are so lovely and so are all of you.

**Author's Note:**

> This one is a bit different. This series keeps expanding. Idk what to tell you. More fluff after this one, probably. There's a story I've been trying to get to forever. Eventually, that idea will make its way into this series.


End file.
